Manchester City v Newcastle United
Wednesday January 28, 2009, 7.45pm
City of Manchester Stadium - Att: 42, 280
City:
Hart, Richards, Onuoha, Kompany (c), Bridge, Zabaleta (Fernandes 81),
de Jong (Elano 77), Ireland, Wright-Phillips (Caicedo 90),
Robinho, Bellamy.
unused subs: Schmeichel (GK), Vassell, Garrido.
Newcastle:
Harper, Coloccini, Taylor, Bassong, Enrique, Duff, Edgar, Geremi, Barton (Lovenkrands 62), Owen (Gutierrez 18) (c), Carroll.
unused subs: Xisco, Forster, LuaLua, Donaldson, Inman.
Goals: 1-0 (Wright-Phillips 16), 2-0 (Bellamy 76), 2-1 (Carroll 80)
Bookings
City: SWP (43)
Newcastle: Taylor (48), Gutierrez (66)
Referee: Mr M. Jones
Pre match
There
were two debutantes tonight as Nigel de Jong and Craig Bellamy made it
numbers 1091 and 1092 for City, replacing Dunne and Sturridge
respectively. Robinho started, and for the visitors there was no Shay
Given, but Joey Barton made his first appearance since leaving City in
summer 2007.
Vincent Kompany wore the captain's armband for City.
The match
De
Jong & Bellamy received big ovations as their names were read out,
although the latter’s was mixed with boos from the Newcastle end. City
responded in kind to Joey Barton
The game’s first half-chance
came after four minutes, Robinho’s cute chip from the left finding SWP,
but under pressure from Coloccini he headed it straight at Harper. We
were swift to get at the Newcastle defence, and another quick break on
nine minutes ended with Harper taking Ireland’s curled effort with
ease.
Bassong’s foul on Robinho a minute later allowed the
Brazilian to chance his arm from the resulting free kick on the edge of
the area, but his right-footed attempt did not have enough bend on it
and went harmlessly wide of Harper’s right post.
Pablo Zabaleta
was again excelling in his midfield role, familiar to him from his
Under 21 days at international level, and a wonderful pass after 16
minutes put enough pressure on Newcastle that they could only find
touch – and from the throw-in we took the lead! Bridge crossed to
Robinho, whose pass found the defence flat-footed and allowed Shaun Wright-Phillips to sneak in and drill the ball home between Harper’s legs.
Two
minutes later Michael Owen, clearly struggling after an early knock,
was forced to come off, receiving a generous hand from City’s fans in
the Colin Bell Stand.
Craig Bellamy had his first chance to
shine on 29 minutes when charging down a Taylor clearance and breaking
into the box, but his cross back towards Robinho was cut out and
cleared.
The visitors were struggling to make an impression, with
the testing cross from Duff towards Gutierrez that Hart cut out being
their biggest threat for a while. At the other end Bellamy appealed for
a penalty after going to the floor under pressure from Enrique, referee
Jones waved away his claims.
Joey Barton’s shot from range did
not trouble Hart on 41 minutes, but just afterwards he was down at the
other end, doing just enough to put off Zabaleta and forcing the
Argentinean to shoot wide. The City number five had been forced away
from goal, but could have found Bellamy or Robinho in better positions.
The
visitors improved on their first half showing after the break, applying
more pressure than the Blues, for whom the final was lacking. Taylor
went down in the City box while being challenged by Richard on 58, but
referee Jones ignored the penalty appeals. We broke to the other end,
and Ireland tried a midair back-heel that went over the bar.
Joey
Barton left the fray just after the hour with an injury, and a few
minutes later it looked like SWP would be following after taking a
heavy blow from Gutierrez. The Newcastle substitute saw yellow, and
City’s talisman was back on after receiving treatment on the sidelines.
Duff
went close to equalising on 68 minutes, flipping the ball past Hart
p0nly to see Wayne Bridge clear it off the line. Bellamy was claiming
a penalty on 70 minutes after tussling with Bassong, and SWP also
looked to referee Jones a minute later – but both were waved away to
the fury of City’s players, fans and bench.
But after what had
been at times a shaky second half, City doubled the lead with 13
minutes left. Zabaleta moved down the right and fed Craig Bellamy, who made space for himself by spinning round and then shooting low with his left past a static Harper.
All
seemed well – but Newcastle hit back three minutes later. Bridge was
dispossessed by Edgar on the edge of the box and his cross found Andy Carroll, who could not miss from a yard out to set up a nervy last 10 minutes or so.
SWP
needed more treatment with three minutes left, but hobbled back on
briefly before coming off for Caicedo. Both benches looked agitated as
five additional minutes were flashed up, but just after SWP’s exit
Robinho broke away to set up Caicedo. Sadly the Ecuadorian striker
could not take the chance, electing to back-heel with no-one in
support. Bellamy capped a good debut by earning plaudits for tracking
back into the right back position, then winning a corner that ate up
some valuable time at the other end.
meaningful action of a game that City looked to have in the bag before
a nervous finale. But, it was three more points and the unbeaten run in
the league stretched to four games with City now looking at the top
half of the Barclays Premier League table.
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